ColourPop Super Shock Shadow - Birthday Girl Swatches & Review

2 July 2015

Purchased by me/Contains affiliate links

Hey lovelies,

ColourPop recently celebrated their first birthday by giving away a limited edition eyeshadow aptly named Birthday Girl with orders over $30. That promotion has now ended but I thought I'd still show you my swatches and review in case you're wondering whether it's worth trawling blog sales and the like for!

ColourPop's eyeshadows come boxed, although I confess to being a little annoyed that they don't have the name printed on them. I am a hoarder of packaging and have taken to storing some items in their boxes but because I can't readily identify the product from the outside packaging it's a waste of time in this case.

The eyeshadow is housed in a screwtop pot - the permanent collection comes in glossy white, but this special birthday eyeshadow comes in hot pink instead with a cute holographic cupcake topping the logo. Colourpop advise that the jars need to be kept tightly shut to prevent the eyeshadow from drying out - more on that later.

You've probably heard everyone and their cat describe the texture of Colourpop's eyeshadows already :D But they have a malleable consistency like wet clay - should you press a finger into the eyeshadow you'll leave a hollow, it doesn't spring back or cling like a mousse, nor does it resist like a cream or powder. And of course, it's endlessly amusing to prod at! Because of the wetness of the formula it is important to keep the lid tightly shut to prevent the product drying out. Even so, they have a fairly short shelf life, with ColourPop advising that their eyeshadows will last three years unopened and a year after being opened. I like that they are up front about this, though I do wonder if they are being conservative to cover their butts or if my shadows really will be unusuable once the year is up.

Birthday Girl is a warm tan with a tonne of gold, bronze and silver shimmer, with the silver being the most prevalent on me. There's so much sparkle going on that it can be on the chunky side and fall out is definitely an issue. I initially started to pat it on my lids with a flat synthetic brush and it was just flicking glitter all over the place so I used my finger instead. That helped a lot but I would still recommend placing a tissue or shadow guard underneath your eye during application to catch any errant sparkle. You can also use a bit of sellotape to grab any escaped glitter.

Applied, Birthday Girl's colour pay off is lovely and it's easy to build up and blend out. As you blend, the sparkle can accidentally be brushed away so I like to gently diffuse just the edges so as not to lose too much. Lasting power was impressive over primer but fallout was steady throughout the day. On the plus side, I don't think anyone could see my undereye circles under all the glitter! Despite the sparkle migration, I still really love Birthday Girl. The sheen and shimmer are just incredible.

Birthday Girl worn all over lids and on inner third of lower lash line

What I liked:

Lovely colour pay off

Easy to blend

Incredible sheen and sparkle

What I didn't like:

More sparkle fallout than an explosion in a glitter factory during application and wear